Here’s a little-known fact to give sick folks high hopes — New York already has a law on the books to dispense marijuana to cancer patients.

The medical-marijuana law was approved by the state Legislature and then-Gov. Hugh Carey in 1980 following an emotional appeal from brain-cancer patient Antonio Olivieri, a former state Assembly member and City Council member from Manhattan who lobbied legislators from his hospital bed.

The law — called the “Antonio G. Olivieri Controlled Substance Therapeutic Research Program” — authorizes hospitals to administer pot to cancer and glaucoma patients for medicinal purposes upon receiving approval by medical review boards. It even specifies that marijuana would be obtained by the State Police.

“In my personal experience, it [marijuana] was really the only thing during one course of chemotherapy that allowed me to combat nausea and keep eating,” Olivieri said. He died shortly after the law was passed.

In signing the bill, Carey said, “Because of the legal restrictions on the sale and use of marijuana, many patients who could have benefited from its use have been unable to obtain marijuana without engaging in illegal activities.”

Then-state Health Commissioner Dr. David Axelrod endorsed the therapeutic use of pot, saying it’s “an inhibitor of vomiting for patients who are receiving cancer chemotherapy.”

Axelrod also said marijuana showed some benefits for glaucoma patients. “It prevents the buildup of pressure in the eye. Both of these, we feel, provide a rationale for permitting marijuana to be used under carefully controlled circumstances,” he said.

Carey’s administration never implemented the law — Article 33-A, Chapter 810 of New York’s Public Health Law.

But now, supporters of the push to legalize marijuana are seeing green again.

They’re pointing to the Olivieri law as reason to use medical pot and arguing that the law should be taken off the shelf and upgraded or expanded, they said.

“It’s important that New York recognize the concept that medical marijuana was legalized for medical use over 30 years ago. It’s long overdue to make this a reality,” said Assembly Health Committee chairman Richard Gottfried (D-Manhattan).

“Dispensing marijuana for medicinal purposes is the law in New York. But it would require administrative action, action by the Health Department, to take effect,” Gottfried added.

Huzzuh! Patience pays off as we are now seeing marijuana is a plant like broccoli and a blessing for us rather than a fright. NYS was the first to repeal alcohol prohibition and today we still are wise leaders, recognizing what is good for us. Thank you leaders!

Assemblyman Gottfied- who was a cosponsor for a bill requiring education in pain care and voted for ISTOP now is supporting a bill that gives too much power to doctors to certify use of medical marijuana despite knowing how poorly doctors prescribed opioids and despite knowing doctors in NYS don't have education in pain care and refuse to have education in pain care. The legislature should, instead, state the specific conditions for which marijuana can be certified and require the OPMC to enforce the prohibition against cruel and degrading treatment in pain care. A panel of laymen from NY should review whether or not doctors have properly denied people in pain access to medical marijuana and pain care- for we know the OPMC doesn't work for the good of NewYorkers in pain- as evidenced by two unfavorable NYPIRG reports. And as NYS is rated amongst the worst states in pain care with medical organizations like MSSNY having no real vision or plan to improve pain care-the state of NY- once again is guilty of doing too little too late to help people in pain. NYS should have only one master in pain care- and that is the people of NYS- instead NYS has chosen the health care industry as their master-and serves the health care industry to the great detriment of the public good and people in pain. Assemblyman Gottffieed and senators Krueger and Savino can debate me openly on the public- I hope their dorsolateral prefrontal cortexes will be methylated enough should they be democratic enough to allow that to happen.

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Georgia as well has medical marijuana laws that have gone dormant. They state they must form a committee and any said committee fears prosecution. Well Eric Holder stated he and the DOJ will not go after states with medical marijuana laws. Well it seems there are other reasons GA does not want to make a committee now, it was just an excuse :-/

There is a Facebook page set up to raise awareness about this law and make it easy to find and share. The program was "Administratively" discontinued, which seems to mean that it can and should be re-established by the same process. It was passed for the people by the legislature, but stopped by a much less political process. All interested patients should start writing to the commissioner of Health and demand the legally provided opportunity to participate. https://FB.com/NYPBH33a

@jpalm32 . freedom for immigrants? Is ok, when they come here legally. Freedom for illegal immigrants? NO, because they are in this country illegally, they are criminals.

Take a look at the laws, illegal means illegal. If they come to the US legally then they deserve all the freedoms that any American citizen is entitled to, if not then they should be deported back to where they came from.

My doctor won't allow me to smoke the stuff, and will refuse to see me if I do, so I quit, but wish I was still smoking. It makes me feel great.

The most simple scientific definition of intoxication is the body is being poisoned. If poisoned enough you can die. In large doses alcohol is a toxic poison, and if you consume to much alcohol you can die. Alcohol is legal, in all 50 states despite it's intoxifying/lethal effects. Marajuana can not kill you. It is not toxic, like alcohol. You can not overdose on pot. Not even if you smoked 50 joints in one day. You might kill yourself if you drove after smoking 50 joints, but nobody is advocating this. You could even smoke 300 joints in one day, which would not be smart, but you would not die.

If one of the 2 should be legal, than pot should be. It's the non toxic, non lethal substance and a much safer drug than alcohol. Personally alcohol gives me hangovers, and I do not like it, but others do, and most respect it's lethal consequences. I am in no way advocating for another prohibition on alcohol, it just seems that pot is the safer of the 2, and IMO residents of NY/USA should be given a choice of which substance they want to unwind with after a hard day's work.

I'm a former pot smoker, and I miss it. Please legalize it for recreational use as well as medical use. So I can smoke the stuff without my doctor giving me the third degree. I'm sick of being threatened of having my neccasary medicine taken away from me if pot shows up in my blood work.

I forgot to add this. When weighing the consequences of pot and alcohol. Alcohol is pysically adicting. Not good. Pot is not. Much better.